This is one of six reliefs (museum nos. 1884-645 to 650) together with a scene depicting The Bodies of the Martyrs are Burned (museum no. 1884-651) that are from a series of eight scenes depicting the martyrdom of Saints Marius and Martha and of their sons Audifax and Abrachum: Christians from Persia who were executed in Rome under Claudius II in the third century A.D. The scenes originally adorned a shrine containing relics of these martyrs in the church of San Lorenzo in Cremona. The shrine was commissioned by the Abbot, Antonio de' Meli before his death in 1479, and was completed by 1482. With the suppression of San Lorenzo in the early 19th century, the shrine was sold off, and, between 1805 and 1820, the eight reliefs of martyrdom were incorporated into pulpits in Cremona Cathedral, where they remain today. Two roundels from the shrine of the Persian Martyrs also survive:1.The Nativity, bearing the inscription 'CORP.S.M.MARII ET MARTHAE' in the Museo Archeologico, in Milan.2.The Annunciation, bearing the inscription 'ANTO. DE MEL JS. I.V.DOCT.ABB.F' in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.